The Pain of PDZ

[Brando]

I really enjoyed perfect dark on the 64 and I have had PDZ since launch. It's got some awesome animations of guns loading and I like the weapons feel and characteristics. But I can't get over how bad the last levels are. I've just done 9 and 10 on the middle difficulty. They're just so tedious it hurts , despite looking impressive with the jungle leaves and atmosphere I can't remember a time I found it such a chore to play a game. I just want it completed so I can buy gears of war with a clear 360 fps conscious (not fully decided I want it yet). But my need to be a completer finisher is waning!!!

Did anyone else give up on it and write it off as a pile of crap? Don't get me wrong, some aspects of it have been enjoyable (definitely not a classic though).

Is it worth completing?

[Vezna]

The online co-op is fun but ultimately it's a broken old fashioned game that was blatantly released unfinished.

[NecronomiconUK]

I borrowed it off a mate and gave up during the 3rd level I think... I really found it awful, the level design was so piss-poor I just couldn't enjoy it. From what I've heard it's not worth completing, you only get 10 gamerpoints for doing so if I remeber.

[Yoshimax]

Did anyone else give up on it and write it off as a pile of crap?

Yes. I was gutted.

[jonnyalpha]

I gave up on it very quickly. I think I traded it in about 3 days after getting it with my launch machine. The level design is awful and totally unforgivable in a modern game. You won't get much for it now though, my local indie sells pre-owned copies for about ?13.

[EJG1980]

I've had it for months and every now and then I'll go back into it and complete one or two levels, but I can't take too much more than that in one sitting. I've actually just got up to the jungle level as well, but with Call of Duty 3 and Gears of War a few days away from landing on my doorstep (and Viva Pinata a few days after that) I really can't see myself looking at PDZ again for a while.

My main reason for not selling it is because I doubt I'd get too much for an Asian version of this game I think you can buy it new for about ?15 now!

[chopemon]

i actually enjoyed it.

i did find the levels a bitch because of their checkpoint placement in later parts of the game but i ultimately enjoyed it.

i liked the style and the light hearted spyness of it

it is fairly old fashioned and features typical rare unfair frustration but i played it through and gave the multiplayer a hammering

i really enjoyed the multiplayer now i come to think about it

[Brats]

The multiplayer is really good, provided you find the right modes that suit you and your friends. The single player is pretty good on the higher levels, it requires a lot of thought whereas in the easier levels you can just blast through it.

It is amazingly unpolished, especially for a Rare game though. It's like getting a cricket set for your birthday and finding that the stumps are broken and the bat is covered in slime. Initially you think WTF, but you can have fun with the game if you mess around with it.

[Riskbreaker]

Enjoyed it from start to finish and thought the multiplayer mode was good fun as well, but I seem to be in the minority. It had its flaws, but nothing I couldn't get over.

Actually I remember having many a good match on live, unfortunately it fell foul of the old Live mentality.

Might give it another blast this weekend, lost my save games a while ago so it'll be interesting to see how I feel about it 1 year post launch.

[EvilBoris]

I really enjoyed it, playing through it on Perfect and Dark agents settings in CO-OP with some Live friends are some of my best 360 moments yet.

Sure it has a 'unique' style, but the graphics certainly aren't bad by any stretch of the imagination. I certainly got my ?49.99's worth out of it.

It game's main problem is the lack of direction it gives the game to playing the game stealthily. If you figure out what makes the enemies react and what sets them off you can breeze through some of the most difficult parts of the game.

That is what I found the most fun, working out which was the best way to tackle a situation. With the advance of more and more AI in games, this is something we will see less of.

[Stuart Smith]

I love Perfect Dark Zero. I haven't played it since completing it, and I know it's far from perfect, but it will always have a place in my affections. From that brilliant opening level that just couldn't help but be exciting on new hardware (yes, the shininess etc looks ridiculous now, but back then it was just something so tangibly new!) to the moments where everything comes together (the penultimate level, the bridge assault, is one of my favourite FPS moments ever), PDZ is very definitely a product of its time, and hence not a game I'd necessarily recommend picking up now that things like Call of Duty 3 and Gears of War are upon us. But in that time...it was something quite remarkable, in my eyes at least.

[EvilBoris]

High Five!

[anephric]

I threw it at some collection of atoms in Gamestation who looked like they might reward me with some cash for my benificence approximately 2 days after it plopped flatulently through my door-hole.

A horrible, misbegotten piece of software. Like partial circumcision, it's pointless.

[JohnMcL7]

This is probably the biggest disappointment for me in a long time, I paid a load of money for it (which is why I can't trade it in!) and since I loved PD64 I've tried so hard with PDZ. But it just frustrates me, with Goldeneye and PD64 I had the feeling that the game had been played over and over to refine it - I played both games for years in multiplayer and always enjoyed it. But with PDZ, I had to really persevere with it - it just didn't feel like it had been played and refined it, still in a rough state.

John

[Paulos G]

I only got part way through the single player before an unfortunate hoovering incident left the disc only able to read multiplayer (excluding co-op).

I certainly spent a lot of time playing on Live when it first came out and really enjoyed it. With the right group of people it was a good blast.